


Outside is a Wonderland

by sororexitium



Series: Peter's Special Power Is Wrapping Tony Around His Tiny Finger [2]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Gen, M/M, Superfamily, Superhusbands, Tony is an awesome dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-11-13 12:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sororexitium/pseuds/sororexitium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Going to the park with the Avengers grabs the attention faster than if Tony had run down the street nude. They aren’t even five feet away from the cars they all took before someone has their phone out—a freaking iPhone, how insulting—to take pictures. Tony estimates about fifteen minutes before the first shark shows up to snap close ups of them and try to spin horrible stories about the outing.</p>
<p>It really wouldn’t be so bad if Peter weren’t with them, or if this weren’t Peter’s first outing since his family died. Peter is already looking around a little self-consciously, his hands tightening in Tony’s hoodie. He almost refuses being set on the ground, but a little girl with bright blond hair shrieks in delights and another little boy laughs. Peter looks over to the jungle gym his eyes lighting up just a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outside is a Wonderland

Tony doesn’t go out with Peter often. The paparazzi is all over them if they see even a glimpse of the little boy’s face, because, really. Tony has been hiding his son from the world for four years and this is juicy stuff. Any chance to catch Peter’s face is practically gold for those sharks.

It was especially bad during the first months, with speculation about how Peter came to be, what the conditions of his conception were, what had happened to his mother and step-father and his side of the family, if Tony had hired assassins to kill them so he could have his son to himself, or if Peter was supposed to be in the death toll too.

Tony thinks it’s understandable that he didn’t and still doesn’t like to take his son with him if he has to go into public. Reporters are tactless and without a doubt one would demand from Tony, _‘Was Mary Parker trying to keep your son from you, Mr. Stark? Is that why you had her killed?’_ Tony can deal with that, but in no way is he going to put his son, traumatized enough as it is, through the screamed accusations and flashing bulbs just so they can take a walk down the street.

The repeated visits from the cops and detective to interview Peter or interrogate Tony are bad enough.

In the beginning, Peter hadn’t really seemed to care, hadn’t cared much about anything unless he lost sight of Tony and then he cared _a lot_. His little boy had hardly wanted to move from his arms, didn’t particularly want food, but would eat it as if on auto-pilot. Naps were out of the question. Movies were seen but not enjoyed and his toys for at least a good solid month and a half had been discarded and ignored in favor of never leaving Tony’s side.

But Peter is adapting, if not necessarily getting over it—not that Tony blames him; he was seventeen when his parents died in a car accident and he is still not over it. He’s still the quiet little boy he’s always been, but his smiles don’t always have to be coerced out of him, and he’s happy to play with his toys and color. He can be without Tony, and doesn’t mind hanging out with the other Avengers.

Eventually, small children want to go outside.

Tony, sadly, has been dreading this for months.

However, he still can’t deny Peter such a small thing when he comes up to Tony at the kitchen island and pulls on his pants leg, his face serious and pleading as he asks softly, “Can we go t’the park today, daddy?”

Thor immediately perks up from his coffee and pancakes, his sixth round of them, but doesn’t say anything because the god actually has mucho amounts of respect for fathers all around the world. Getting excited would get Pete’s hopes up and if Tony were so inclined to say no, it would be sad.

Tony is a pushover though, and he knows kids can’t be cooped up in a tower all the time, only leaving for therapy appointments and occasional outings to SHIELD facilities.

Technically he has a few meetings he should be going to, but he texts Pepper, _‘Pete wants to go to the park’_ and almost three seconds later she sends a reply back, _‘GO!’_

Yeah, Pep has been not so secretly worried about Peter too.

He sets his phone down and returns his gaze to his son, gives a longsuffering sigh and tells him, “Okay, Peter Cottontail. Put some older clothes on and we’ll go hopping down the bunny trail.”

The megawatt grin Peter gives him is most definitely worth the major headache it will be when the paps find out Peter and Tony are out in public.

His son runs off to get dressed for an outing at the park, and Thor must have decided he’s going too, because he inhales the rest of his pancakes, drains his coffee and also runs out of the kitchen. Tony stays where he is and does a mental calculation.

Tony+Peter+paparazzi=bad.

Tony+Peter+Thor+paparazzi=potentially hilarious outcome that he will have to pretend to be apologetic for.

Worth it.

*

Peter, once he has his dad’s approval to go to the park, doesn’t go straight to his room. Instead, he makes a beeline for Cap’s art room, which his daddy says is actually _his_ study, but he never uses it so it’s Cap’s art room. Cap is sitting on his favorite chair with a drawing book in his lap, but when he sees Peter he smiles and asks, “Well?”

Peter returns his grin. “Daddy said we can go!”

Cap chuckles. “I told you it would be okay. Now, go on, Pete. Go get ready. I’ll get some balls to kick around.”

Peter nods, tugging his lower lip between his teeth in an effort to contain his excitement. He’s wanted to go to the park for a few days now, but so far hadn’t been sure how to ask his dad for it. He knows it’s against the rules, but he had asked Cap if he would take him. When Cap had said his name firmly with that same head tilt that usually means daddy is in trouble, Peter had felt really guilty, but Cap had just told him in his ‘you aren’t in trouble, Peter’ voice, “Go ask your dad. He’s not gonna say no.”

Peter had been worried about that, but now he feels like he was being silly. His chest is light and he can’t keep the grin off his face as he hops to his bedroom to change into play clothes. Daddy is taking him to the park and they’re gonna play ball with Cap and play hide and go seek. Peter’s so excited to play on the jungle gym. He hasn’t been to a park since before mommy and his other dad, Rick, went to heaven.

He feels something he can’t explain in his chest. It’s worse than sadness, and makes his throat hurt. He misses his mom and dad, Aunt May and Uncle Ben and his doctor that he talks to once a week says that’s normal; that he’ll always miss them and there’s nothing wrong with that.

He takes a deep breath, feeling a little morose, before he tells himself that daddy is taking him to the park and Cap is going to go with them and they’re going to have a lot of fun.

After he changes, he nearly runs through the tower to find where daddy or Cap is waiting. He runs into Aunt Nat first though, and skids to a halt to tell her breathlessly, “Aunt Nat, we’re goin’ t’the park!”

It takes him a second to realize she has a brush in her hand as is pulling her hair back into a ponytail until she’s securing the rubber band in it. “I know, Petey. Give me a second to put on my shoes and I’ll be ready to go.”

Then she reaches down and does something Peter is not too fond of and runs her brush through his hair, trying to pull it out of his eyes. He screws up his face but doesn’t pull away, letting her pull out the tangles in his hair. It is sometimes easier to get it over with quickly than to fight it. Especially since Aunt Nat has this super hold that she uses when she wants to tame his hair and he’s not keen on standing still.

When she’s finished, she gives him a pat on the butt and tells him, “Go find Uncle Clint and Bruce. See if they want to go too.”

He grins again and continues his trek through the apartment, looking for either his uncles or his dads. He finds Thor with both Uncle Clint and Bruce and they’re all ready to go out for the day. So that really only leaves him to find daddy and Cap.

“Jarbis!” he calls, waiting for the computer to answer him. “Where’s daddy and Cap?”

*

Steve has a soccer ball, a few baseballs, and a kickball in a mesh bag when he goes to Tony’s room to find the man in casual clothes, jeans, a t-shirt and a zip up hoodie thrown over it. He has sunglasses pushed up in his hair and is hovering over his computer console, telling JARVIS, “Somewhere that isn’t heavily populated…I want it to take more than an hour for the paparazzi to figure out I’m playing catch with my son. Can you manage that?”

JARVIS retorts tiredly, “Sir, I managed these parameters twenty minutes ago. Given the general population of New York City, calculating which areas are least likely to be ‘popular’,” Steve can actually hear the quotation marks around the word, “and given the fact that the rest of the Avengers are now ready to go with you, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to keep young sir out of the tabloids.”

Steve tries to refrain from smirking when Tony looks up at the ceiling like it may hold the answer to why things never go the way he wants them too. “You couldn’t have told me this before?”

“You didn’t request the information, sir.”

Tony glares at the ceiling, although Steve knows that JARVIS isn’t really located in any one spot in the Tower. “I’m reprogramming you after I get back!”

“Don’t make idle threats, Tony,” Steve admonishes from the doorway, dropping his bag to lean against the jamb. When the other man swivels his head around to glare at him he smiles, crossing his arms over his chest. “We both know you love JARVIS too much to reprogram him. You’ve almost got his sarcasm at the perfect levels.”

“Your logic is appreciated, Captain,” JARVIS says, somehow sounding smug and dry all at the same time.

Tony continues to stare at him, looking completely unimpressed before he glances down at the bag at his feet. “I take it I have you to blame for this outing?”

Steve shakes his head, coming further into the room. “No, that was Pete’s idea. I just encouraged it.” Tony doesn’t look at all impressed with this information and Steve can practically hear the argument revving up in Tony’s brain.

Steve isn’t impervious to the tabloids, the headliners on the internet, or the ticker tape at the bottom of the newscasts. Even after seven months, Tony, Peter, and the unsolved murder case of Peter’s family is hot news. He knows that Tony practically can’t leave a building without reporters, photographers, fans, and hate groups alike swarming him. But Peter can’t live his life in this building without going outside. Eventually he’s going to have to go to school, make friends, get fresh air.

“Tony…” Steve starts, sighing a little when he’s unsure of where to go. “Kids need to go outside. They need to make friends and have fun.”

“I know that, Steve, I’m just…”

Steve cuts him off. “I know you’re worried, Tony. I can’t say I’m not. But hiding him from everyone isn’t going to make them go away and it’s not going to make him happy.”

Tony stays silent for a long minute, just staring at Steve like he can force his reasoning into his head, make Steve back down and realize that this is a terrible idea. When it doesn’t work, he clenches his jaw for a moment and tells Steve in no uncertain terms, “If Thor says something or Natasha kills someone, _you_ get to write the reports for Fury. I want it noted that I for once decided this was a bad idea.”

Chuckling, Steve nods. “Scout’s honor.”

Tony’s stance relaxes, a small smile turning the corner of his lips. He takes a half step closer, pressing one hand into his pocket. “You realize if anyone says one wrong thing to Peter, you’re going to have to keep me from punching them, right?”

Steve is more than used to the protective urges he feels for his team and for Peter and Tony in particular. It still shocks him a little when he says, “I’d only hold you back so I could get to them first.”

Tony looks pretty shocked too. “You’d ruin your wholesome reputation for me and webhead? Steve…I’m touched!”

“I’d do a lot of things for you and Pete.”

Tony smiles. “Sap.”

It’s not the most direct flirting they’ve done. This is actually ridiculously tame, but it seems to mean more. Steve feels his heart beat faster and Tony, despite his teasing looks genuinely grateful to him. Steve doesn’t know what either of them is waiting for, but it seems to Steve that they’re getting closer and closer to it each day.

Steve doesn’t really get the chance to reply to Tony, not that he really knows what he is going to say. Peter comes bounding into the room, stepping around the bag of balls still in the doorway. “I’m ready to go, daddy.”

The way Tony visibly softens at his son still does a number on Steve.

*

Going to the park with the Avengers grabs the attention faster than if Tony had run down the street nude. They aren’t even five feet away from the cars they all took before someone has their phone out—a freaking iPhone, how insulting—to take pictures. Tony estimates about fifteen minutes before the first shark shows up to snap close ups of them and try to spin horrible stories about the outing.

It really wouldn’t be so bad if Peter weren’t with them, or if this weren’t Peter’s first outing since his family died. Peter is already looking around a little self-consciously, his hands tightening in Tony’s hoodie. He almost refuses being set on the ground, but a little girl with bright blond hair shrieks in delights and another little boy laughs. Peter looks over to the jungle gym his eyes lighting up just a little.

“Go on, Pete,” Tony says quietly in his ear. “Go play. We’ll be here the whole time.”

His son draws back a little to look him in the eye, and then looks over his shoulder to Steve, who’s been following behind them since they got out of the car. Tony follows his eyes and sees Steve smile encouragingly. He releases Tony’s hoodie and lets himself be set on the ground, looking back to Steve once more.

“We were gonna play soccer…” he reminds them, still not too certain about playing while so many people seem to have their phones centered on them.

Steve smiles getting down on his haunches to run a hand through Peter’s unruly hair. “We can play soccer any time you want. Why don’t you go play and when you’ve had your fun we’ll play some ball. Okay?”

It takes a moment, but Peter finally nods and takes a step toward the playground. “Okay, Cap.”

Then he runs off, jumping onto a set of monkey bars where very few children are. Tony watches him for a few minutes, and is glad when the little boy stops looking around at all the pictures being taken, the little blond girl who shrieked earlier coming to play with him on the swings, daring each other to see who can jump the farthest.

Tony takes that as his sign to go sit at a picnic table, Steve following close behind him. Clint and Thor are playing Frisbee in a large field over to their right. Bruce seems to be making up scores for them off to the side and apparently has decided Thor is winning if Clint’s indignant face is anything to go by. Natasha is nowhere to be seen at the moment, but there’s some poor sap with a busted camera so Tony can guess what she’s getting up to. Mostly though, Tony keeps his attention on his son, waving when Peter waves at them and maybe, every now and then, sending a picture to Pepper as the little blond girl and Peter take turns pushing each other on the merry-go-round.

After twenty minutes, both of the children come running over and Peter skids to a halt in front of Steve, patting his knee and asking with probably more enthusiasm that Tony has seen in a long time, “Cap, can Gwen and me play with the kickball?”

“Sure, sport.” Steve easily reaches into the mesh bag to get the large red ball, handing it to Peter and smiling when they take off running with it. When he leans back he glances over at Tony, “See? Is this so bad?”

Just because he doesn’t want to admit that he could have overreacted with the entire park thing, he replies, “Worse than I ever imagined. Thor should not be allowed to play Frisbee.” And he shouldn’t. He’s already hit Clint in the head twice, and almost clocked Bruce a few times as well. At this rate Clint is going to have a concussion and Bruce will be much more efficient and dodging Tony’s random jabs.

Steve laughs softly, his shoulder knocking against Tony’s as his eyes go back to follow Peter and Gwen as they kick the ball back and forth to one another.

*

By the end of the afternoon, Peter is tired and a little cranky. Natasha has eight memory cards in her possession from perimeter checks and bullying them out of the paparazzo’s hands. Clint has a giant goose egg on his forehead, and Thor is trying to convince Bruce to play a game of hopscotch with him.

They get back to the tower with relative ease and Steve carries Peter while the little boy tries not to look like he’s going to sleep on Steve’s shoulder, his hands clinging loosely to Steve’s shirt and his eyes drooping slowly before he snaps them back open.

“Should I take him to his room,” Steve asks Tony softly, but Peter still hears it and begins wiggling in his arms, protesting that he isn’t tired; he doesn’t need a nap; he wants to watch a movie.

Tony shakes his head. “Just set him down on the couch and we’ll pull up Madagascar or something.”

Steve nods, rubbing the little boys back and assuring him he doesn’t have to lie down. “You can sit in the living room with us and watch a movie, buddy.”

The movie is only on for five minutes before Peter is passed out between them, his head on Tony’s lap and his feet on Steve’s, looking calm and content.


End file.
